D-Day D Y R M N O E N G L I S H C H A N N E L

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1 D-Day The Allied Invasion of France On 6 June 1944 the Allied military machine embarked on Operation Overlord, the invasion of German-occupied France. Its target was the coast of Normandy, and a vast armada of ships carried more than 130,000 fighting men and vehicles across the English Channel. Ahead of them, planes and gliders transported another 24,000 Airborne troops to deploy behind the beach defences. This was the biggest amphibious landing in history, and its aim was to end the war in Europe and bring victory to the Allies. The assault was conducted in two phases: an air assault landing of 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 6:30 AM. There were also decoy operations mounted under the code names Operation Glimmer and Operation Taxable to distract the German forces from the real landing areas. There was nothing inevitable about the Allied victory in Normandy. The Germans had 61 divisions, 11 of which were armoured, protecting the French coastline. This force was roughly equivalent to the total Allied commitment to Operation Overlord and had no intention of giving up without a fight. F R A N C E British 6 th Airborne Caen N O R M A N D Y Bayeux Orne River E N G L I S H C H 1 SS A N 8 Infantry N E L 9 Infantry Sword 185 Infantry 27 Armoured 4 SS 3rd 7 Canadian Infantry 8 Canadian Infantry 2 Canadian Armoured Juno 9 Canadian Infantry 51st (Highland) 3rd Canadian 69 Infantry 151 Infantry Gold 56 Infantry 7 th Armoured 47 RM Commando 231 Infantry 8 Armour 49 th (West Rid British I Corps Crocker British Second Army Dempsey 10

2 Assault by Air Show me a man who will jump out of an airplane, and I ll show you a man who ll fight. General James Gavin To eliminate the enemy s ability to organize and launch counter-attacks during the amphibious assault phase of the Normandy invasion, airborne operations by British and US troops were utilized to seize key objectives, such as bridges, road crossings, and terrain features, particularly on the eastern and western flanks of the landing areas. The airborne landings some distance behind the beaches were also intended to ease the egress of the amphibious forces off the beaches, and in some cases to neutralize German coastal defence batteries and more quickly expand the area of the beachhead. Although not always successful, the parachute and glider landings proved crucial in confusing and delaying the German defenders. The tenacity and aggressive nature of the paratroopers meant that the Germans could not afford to ignore their presence and were forced to assign desperately needed troops and armour to deal with them. ed ing) St. Lô Omaha 16 th Infantry Regiment 50 th (Northumbrian) Pointe-du-Hoc 18 th Infantry Regiment Coutances 116 th Infantry Regiment Ranger 115 th Infantry Regiment 1 st Infantry 2 nd Infantry 2 nd Armoured US 82 nd & 101 st Airborne s Carentan 8 th Infantry Regiment 29 th Infantry Ste. Mère Eglise Utah 12 th Infantry Regiment 4 th Infantry 22 nd Infantry Regiment 9 th Infantry G U L F O F S T C O T E N T I N P E N I N S U L A 90 th Infantry US VII Corps Collins Cherbourg. M A L O British XXX Corps Bucknall US First Army Bradley US V Corps Gerow 21 st Army Group Montgomery 11

3 The Beaches We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest too, before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit. General George S. Patton The landing points were broken into five beaches. Three for the British and Commonwealth troops, Sword, Juno and Gold. Two for the Americans, Omaha and Utah. On Sword Beach, the British infantry came ashore suffering only light casualties. They had advanced about eight kilometres (five miles) by the end of the day but failed to make some of the overly ambitious targets set by Montgomery. In particular, Caen, a major objective, was still in German hands by the end of D-Day, and would remain so until 8 August. The Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach faced a veritable firestorm from heavy batteries of machine-gun nests, pillboxes, other concrete fortifications, and a sea wall twice the height of the one at Omaha Beach. Juno was the second most heavily defended beach on D-Day, next to Omaha. The high sea wall proved to be the Canadians salvation as it provided much needed cover to those troops that made it across the beach. Despite the obstacles, and thanks to some sterling work by the engineers in Sherman crab flails with Churchill AVRE support the Canadians were off the beach within hours and advancing inland with surprisingly light casualties. The Canadians were the only units to reach their D-Day objectives. The Americans who landed on Omaha beach faced the veteran German 352 nd Infantry, one of the best trained on the beaches. Omaha was the most heavily fortified beach with barbed wire, minefields, pillboxes, Tobruk pits and heavy machine guns spread along the 50 metre high sea wall. Due to the rough seas the landings missed their assigned sectors on the beaches. Commanders considered abandoning the beachhead, but small units of infantry, often forming ad hoc groups of infantry, engineers and support troops, eventually infiltrated the coastal defences. Further landings were able to exploit the initial penetrations and by the end of the day two isolated footholds had been established. The tenuous beachhead was expanded over the following days, and the original D-Day objectives were accomplished by D+3. At Pointe du Hoc, the task for the 2nd Ranger battalion was to scale the 30 metres (98 ft.) cliffs under intense enemy fire and an almost constant rain of grenades using ropes and ladders. Once they reached the summit they would have to then destroy the guns and fortifications they found there. The beach fortifications themselves were still vital targets since a single artillery forward observer based there could have called down accurate fire on the US beaches. The Rangers were eventually successful, and captured the fortifications. What followed was two days of hard fighting to hold the location, during which they lost more than 60% of their men. At Gold Beach, the heavy seas caused the landing craft to jostle together and they were forced to delay their arrivals as each craft drove all the way into the beaches and then tried to extract itself back out to the waiting fleet. The Germans had strongly fortified a village on the beach, manning each building with heavy and light machine guns which took a heavy toll on the invaders. Weighed down with equipment the infantry struggled to cross the soft sand to the relative safety of the sea wall, enduring a withering hail of fire the whole time. Despite the hardships, the 50 th Tyne & Tees Infantry doggedly overcame the bunkers and entrenched German troops and advanced almost to the outskirts of Bayeux by the end of the day. Casualties on Utah Beach, the westernmost landing zone, were the lightest of any beach; only 197 out of the roughly 23,000 troops that landed. Although the 4 th Infantry troops that landed on the beach found themselves too far to the southeast, they landed on a lightly defended sector that had relatively little German opposition, and the 4th Infantry was able to press inland by early afternoon, linking up with the 101 st Airborne. 12

4 The German Defenders The enemy must be annihilated before he reaches our main battlefield We must stop him in the water destroying all his equipment while it is still afloat Field Marshall Erwin Rommel 22 nd April 1944 With the 352. Infanteriedivision forming the backbone of Erwin Rommel s Atlantic Wall defenders the allies were never going to have it all their own way. Rommel had spent the previous year turning the French coastline into a veritable fortress of earth and steel fortifications working his men tirelessly to make the beaches as deadly and uninviting as they could. Rommel knew that German success would hinge upon defeating the invaders on the beaches and constantly demanded that the German high command give him more armour and men as most of his regiments were dangerously below strength at the time of the invasion. Worse, most of the Panzer s were deployed to far from the front to be able to assist the beach defenders quickly. Rommel believed the best defence was an aggressive one and ordered all units under his command to counter-attack any and all Allied forces encountered. This At the present time, it is still too early to say whether this is a large-scale diversionary attack or the main effort German C-in-C West Morning Report for 6 th June 1944 aggressive defence was most successful at the Omaha beach landings as the 352nd. caused horrendous casualties on the 29 th and 1 st US infantry divisions. Following Rommel s orders, the German 21. Panzer mounted a concerted counter-attack, between Sword and Juno beaches, and succeeded in nearly reaching the Channel. Stiff resistance by anti-tank gunners and fear of being cut off caused them to withdraw before the end of 6 June. According to some reports, the sighting of a wave of airborne troops flying over them was instrumental in the decision to retreat. Rommel s fears for the other Panzer divisions proved to be correct as they discovered the narrow French roads and the seemingly endless numbers of Allied paratroopers to be an insurmountable thorn in their plans for relieving the hard pressed beach defenders. US FIRST ARMY BRITISH SECOND ARMY 243 Inf Cherbourg 91 Inf US VII Corps US V Corps British XXX Corps British I Corps US 82nd Airborne US 101st Airborne Valognes 709 Gren Ste. Mère Eglise Carentan UTAH Point du-hoc Isigny OMAHA Vierville GOLD Arromanches JUNO SWORD British 6th Airborne Deauville 6 FJR 352 Bayeux Ouistreham Inf Inf Inf Le Havre Coutances 30 SB St. Lô Villers-Bocage 21 Panzer Caen 12 SS Panzer Granville FRANCE 0 Kilometre 40 0 Mile 40 A Foothold in France The Allied invasion plans had called for the capture of Carentan, St. Lô, Caen, and Bayeux on the first day, with all the beaches linked except Utah and Sword (the last linked with paratroopers) and a front line 10 to 16 kilometres (6.2 to 9.9 miles) from the beaches. In practice, none of these had been achieved. However, overall the casualties had not been as heavy as some had feared (around 10,000 compared to the 20,000 Churchill had estimated), and the bridgeheads had withstood the expected counter-attacks. Over the coming months, the Allies would push inland from the beaches and slowly liberate France from its German occupiers. 13

5 Eight Armies in Normandy Welcome to Normandy. The year is 1944 and the Allies are landing on the Normandy beaches into the teeth of the German fortifications. The paratroopers have landed inland and are making their way to the coast engaging German units as they encounter them. Eight Armies in Normandy is a large scale Total War battle played by the Battlefront Miniatures employees to celebrate the relaunch of our Normandy theatre books. We decided to focus our battle on Gold Beach and Omaha Beach. This allowed us to use British and US forces for the main assault, and we couldn t leave out the airborne, so the paratroopers get to go after some difficult inland objectives and run interference on the German reserves. We obviously used some fuzzy scaling to get all the forces involved, but this game was always about heaps of toy soldiers and fun over purist accuracy. We played our giant game out over two days and had a heap of fun. It is our hope that this article acts as inspiration for you and your friends to pull out your toy soldier collections and play an all-out smash fest. The Scenario For the scenario we used a modified version of Hit the Beach from the D-Day Intelligence handbook (also available in Das Book). We used the following mission rules with alterations as noted. Amphibious Assault Reserves. (Each Allied Paratrooper commander begins the game with one Combat platoon and the Company HQ on the board, all other Paratroopers enter the game as reserves.) Reserves (21. Panzer, Das Reich) Interdiction (see the Radar Station) Overwhelming Force (29 th Infantry and 50 th Tyne & Tees) No Retreat, No surrender (See The Fortress has Fallen below). Prepared Positions (German defenders) Plus we added a new one just for this game: Fighter Interception (Each turn the Radar Station remains under German control the Luftwaffe may intercept one Allied ground attack mission.) Kyran Henry 24

6 You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. General Dwight D. Eisenhower Objectives There are twelve objectives total on the map. Two of these are special objectives that affect the overall battle. If the Allies hold all six objectives on one beach or seven or more across the two beachheads then they are victorious. Otherwise the Germans hold off the landings. Special Objectives The Radar Station: Once Captured the Germans lose their free fighter interception and now suffer the effects of interdiction for all their reinforcements. Once captured, the station is considered disabled for the rest of the game. Formigny: While this village is held by the Allies, all 352. and 726. teams still on the table must take a Morale test at the end of each Allied turn. If they fail then they immediately become pinned and must test to unpin at the start of their turn. 25

7 The Normandy Defences 6 th Airborne Objectives The British airborne had one primary and two secondary objectives to capture. The primary objective was the destruction of the Radar Station overlooking both beaches. The Radar Station allows the German forces to co-ordinate their limited air interception and have fighters engage incoming Allied ground attack aircraft. Its destruction was key to controlling the skies over Normandy. The secondary objectives involved capturing and holding the roads to Gold Beach. 6 th Airborne Div. entry point 726. Grenadierregiment deployment area 50 th Tyne & Tees landing zone 8' / 240cm 50 th Tyne & Tees Objectives The primary objective of the 50 th Tyne and Tees was the capture of the concrete staircase leading off Gold Beach. This would allow the tanks a solid access point to the top of the sea wall. Secondary objectives included the ammunition depot just behind the defences and the road inland covered by a HMG nest. 29 th Infantry Objectives The sea wall ramp was the top priority of the 29 th Infantry on Omaha. This access point was the only way to get the tanks off the beach and up onto the sea wall. Secondary objectives involved capturing the roads inland and knocking out the German artillery command post overlooking these roads. 26

8 82 nd Airborne Objectives The American paratroopers where tasked with severing the inland roads from Omaha beach. The key to this was the hamlet of Formigny which was the primary objective of the airborne units. By cutting this they would cut off supplies and reinforcements as well as severing communications between the beach defenders and the rear echelon troops. The secondary objectives consisted of two buildings overlooking the roads running inland from the beaches. Capturing these would slow down German reinforcements headed for the beaches. 21. Panzer entry points 2. Das Reich SS-Panzerkompanie entry points 82 nd Airborne entry point 352. Infanteriedivision deployment area 8' / 240cm 29 th Infantry Div. landing zone Off-Table Support As well as the forces on the following pages, the Allies had the following assets available: Naval guns 400 pts British Priority Air Support: 220 pts Typhoons US Priority Air Support 190 pts Thunderbolts Total 810 pts The German forces do not have any air cover, but as long as they hold the radar station, they can intercept one Allied air strike per turn. 27

9 The British - Gold Beach 6 th Airborne (Victor Pesch) The Parachute Companies of the 6 th were dropped deep into enemy territory to safeguard the British and Canadian amphibious landings, securing vital bridges to cut off reinforcements, and neutralising coastal guns that threatened the entire fleet. Lt-Colonel Pine-Coffin Company HQ 3 PIAT & 2 snipers Parachute Platoons pts each Parachute Mortar Platoon 50 pts 220 pts 690 pts 135 pts Parachute Machine Gun Platoon 150 pts Anti-Tank Platoon (2 Sections) 150 pts Airlanding Armoured Recce Platoon 170 pts 4 Tetrarch Airlanding Light Battery 150 pts 4 M1A1 75mm pack howitzer 1,715 Points 50 th Tyne & Tees (Phil Yates) The 50 th was tasked with establishing a beachhead between Arromanches-les-Bains and Ver-sur-Mer, then head towards Route Nationale 13. They faced stiff resistance in many areas, but by the end of the day they had achieved all of their objectives, some s advancing as much as eight miles into German-occupied France. 1 st Wave Stan Hollis 35 pts Company HQ 30 pts Rifle Platoons 540 pts Three 180 pts each Pioneer Platoon 85 pts Mortar Platoon 175 pts HMG Platoon 160 pts Breaching Group 280 pts Four AVRE & 2 Sherman Flails DD Armoured Platoon 200 pts Commando Company (1 section) 195 pts 2 nd Wave Commando Company (1 section) 195 pts Carrier Platoon (3 sections) 260 pts Assault Anti-Tank Platoon (SP), RA 310 pts Four M10 Field Battery (SP), RA 495 pts Eight guns, Floating Artillery Independent Armoured Platoon Independent Armoured Platoon Naval Guns Priority Air Support Typhoons 365 pts 365 pts 200 pts 220 pts 4,110 Points 28

10 The Americans - Omaha Beach 82 nd Airborne (Sean Goodison) On D-Day, the 82 nd Airborne, were to land at the base of the Cotentin peninsula and seize vital causeways, road junctions and river bridges, preventing the Germans from bringing reinforcements in to the area, and clearing the way for the amphibious force. Turner Turnbull Company HQ with 3 Bazookas Parachute Rifle Platoons Two 265 pts each Glider Rifle Platoon Parachute MG Platoon Parachute Mortar Platoon 25 pts 90 pts 530 pts 155 pts 170 pts 125 pts Parachute Field Artillery Glider Anti-tank platoon (3 guns) AB Div Recon Platoon with support section & 4 AAMGs AB Engineer Combat Platoon with supply cart & 3 Bazookas 135 pts 70 pts 280 pts 295 pts 1,875 Points The 29 th Infantry disembarked its troopers on D-Day morning in what many survivors declared a hell on earth. Pushing their way up the beach they encountered mines, beach obstacles, a hundred foot sea wall and a murderous hail of shells and machine gun fire. Despite this small groups of men forced their way in amongst the German defenders destroying pillboxes and forming breaches for those soldiers landing in the second wave. 29 th Infantry (John-Paul Brisigotti) 1 st Wave Dutch Cota 25 pts Company HQ 10 pts Boat Sections 650 pts Five 130 pts each Ranger Company 135 pts HMG Platoon with 2 Bazookas 130 pts Mortar Platoon 120 pts 57mm AT Platoon & DUKW Trucks 75 pts Ammo and Pioneer Platoon 155 pts Two Bazookas Cannon Platoon & DUKW Trucks 160 pts DD Shermans (5 tanks) 345 pts Assault Engineer Combat Platoon 180 pts Two Bazookas 2 nd Wave Towed Tank Destroyer Platoon 205 pts Four M5 3 guns with M3 half-tracks 57mm AT Platoon 70 pts Ranger Company 135 pts Cavalry Recon Platoon 210 pts Corps Armoured 300 pts Field Artillery Battery Two Gun Sections, Floating Artillery Corps AA Artillery (SP) Platoon 160 pts Independent Tank Platoon 210 pts Naval Guns 200 pts Priority Air Support 130 pts P-47 Thunderbolts 3,445 Points Total: 11,145 Points 29

11 The Germans - Gold Beach 726. Grenadierregiment (Mike Haught) Originally part of the 716. Infanteriedivision the 726. Grenadierregiment was brought forward to assist the 352 nd in protecting the beaches from Omaha through to Juno. Though low on heavy support the troopers assigned to Gold Beach moved into a well-constructed defensive line consisting of heavy machine-gun nests and bunkers. Company HQ 160 pts Panzerschreck team & 2 Snipers Festungs Grenadier Platoons 480 pts pts each Festungs Mortar Platoon (3 sections) 135 pts Festungs Anti-Tank Platoon: 65 pts Three 4.7mm Pak 183(f) StuG Platoon 285 pts Festungs Artillery Battery 160 pts Four lefh14/19(t) Luftwaffe Anti-aircraft Assault Platoon 115 pts Two 8.8cm FlaK 36 with 8 crew Fortifications Anti Tank Pillbox 7.5cm HMG Pillbox Gun Pits x8 HMG Nest x2 Barbed Wire (5 Pieces) Static Rocket Launcher Battery Flak Nest Trenches (9 pieces) 80 pts 80 pts 40 pts 80 pts 50 pts 160 pts 25 pts 45 pts 21. Panzer Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Company (Casey Davies) When the Allied storm broke at midnight on 6 June 1944, 21. Panzerdivision was one of the first units to go into action. Rushing to the aid of the beleaguered defenders on Gold beach the Gepanzerte quickly became embroiled in a vicious battle with members of the British 6 th Airborne. Major Von Luck 50 pts Company HQ 60 pts Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoon 430 pts pts each Gepanzerte Light AA Gun Platoon 120 pts Self Propelled Infantry Gun Platoon 175 pts 1,960 Points Armoured Artillery Battery 205 pts Three 10.5cm (Sf) Lorraine Schlepper Beute StuH Platoon 260 pts Panzer Platoon 475 pts Five Panzer IV H Armoured Rocket launcher Battery 210 pts Four Panzerwerfer 42 with 8-man crews 1,985 Points 30

12 The Germans - Omaha Beach As the only fully combat ready division manning the Normandy defences the soldiers of the 352. Infanteriedivision were well trained well equipped and itching for a fight. Come D-Day their defences on Omaha proved to be the strongest of the Atlantic Wall as the 29 th Infantry were soon to discover Infanteriedivision (Wayne Turner) Company HQ & Panzerschreck 65 pts Veteran Festungs Grenadier Platoons 360 pts Two 180 pts each Festungs MG Platoon 100 pts Festungs Mortar Platoon 185 pts Three sections & Panzerknacker Festungs Infantry Gun Platoon 140 pts Two 15cm slg33 Festungs Anti-Tank Gun Platoon 155 pts Three PaK40 Festungs Anti-Aircraft Platoon 100 pts Three 3.7cm FlaK43 Festungs Heavy Artillery Battery 310 pts Four 15cm sfh18 Luftwaffe Anti-aircraft Assault Platoon 115 pts Two 8.8cm FlaK36 with 8 crew Fortifications Anti-Tank Pillbox - 8.8cm Pak pts HMG Nest 40 pts Flak Nest 25 pts Barbed Wire - 3 Pieces 30 pts Gun Pits pts HMG Pillbox 80 pts APX Turret 45 pts 2,060 Points 2. Das Reich SS-Panzerkompanie (Adam Simunovich) Having been involved in conflicts on both fronts since the outbreak of the war, the 2. Das Reich consists of numerous veteran units who are well equipped to lead the counter-attacks against the Allied invaders in Normandy. Ernst Barkmann Company HQ: 1 Panzer IV H SS-Panzer Platoon Four Panzer IV H SS-Panther Platoon Three Panther 275 pts 110 pts 435 pts 640 pts Gepanzerte SS-Panzergrenadier Platoon 260 pts SS-Panzer AA Platoon 185 pts Three Quad 2cm SS-Panzer Scout Platoon 185 pts SS-Armoured Artillery Battery 265 pts Three Wespe 2,355 Points Total Points: 8,360 31

13 Gold Beach Phil 50 th Tyne & Tees It s been a very long time since I last did a beach assault and I was really looking forward to tackling Gold Beach. I wasn t disappointed and it was lots of fun. When I found out that the Germans had stationed an assault gun unit on the beach, I rejigged the landing order to put a self-propelled anti-tank unit in the first wave. Pretty armour heavy for a beach assault, but I figured that overrunning the beach defences faster with fewer losses in the infantry would compensate for the inevitable losses in armour. As the old saw goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy, or - in my case - unfavourable tides. The only things that came ashore in the first wave were the anti-tank guns and a platoon of infantry supported by a single DD tank that promptly drowned getting out of the surf. So much for a massed assault. My AVRE bunker busters didn t arrive until my infantry were off the beach and had already knocked out several bunkers by themselves. The anti-tank gunners were unable to harm the assault guns and the two DD tanks that finally reached dry land arrived just ahead of the reinforcing armoured platoons! This chaos left my infantry to fight their way off the beach on their own. The first rifle platoon ashore didn t get far, but the second rifle commando platoon that followed pushed on through heavy artillery and machine-gun fire to reach the two seaside villages and assault the defenders. Both platoons were down to just a dozen men, although the riflemen had the company commander and CSM Hollis leading them into the fray. Avoiding the bunkers, they stormed through the Germans defensive fire and routed them in an impressive display of musketry, then stopped every German counterattack cold. The two armoured platoons coming ashore with the tardy AVRE knocked out the German assault guns in short order despite heavy German shelling. The other main delay was the soft sand, churned up by German shells, which made movement to and up the assault bridges the AVRE tanks laid across the sea wall slow and painful. Once onto firm land, the tanks headed off into the interior to link up with the Paras holding off the German armoured reserves. All-in-all a great battle and a lot of fun, despite the inability of the navy to bring my troops ashore on time. 32

14 Mike 716. Infanteriedivision I took command of the 716. Infanteriedivision in charge of the defence of Gold Beach. My troops were green and as such rated Trained. Rather than let this be a disadvantage, I chose to view it as letting me get more equipment. Even though I knew the Paras would be coming onto the table in the rear area, I decided to put the bulk of my force on the beach to stop the British 50 th Infantry. My reasoning was that the Paras could only get so far in the first few turns, by which time Casey s 21. Panzerdivision should arrive to deal with them. My job would be to stop Phil s Brits from making any headway. My secondary job was to protect the artillery and radar station. The station was defended by a pair of FlaK nests, some barbed wire, and trenches. I placed my best troops (Confident Veteran) on this objective and placed my 10cm artillery battery within the confines of the little fortress. I had several machine-gun bunkers to protect the main beach, backed up by a few machine-gun nests a bit further inland. I also had a bunker armed with a PaK 40 anti-tank gun, which was sighted along the beach, ready for the enemy tanks to unload. 33

15 John-Paul 29 th Infantry Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Phil and facing a vast array of men, machine-guns, bunkers and artillery the task of storming the beach, all one foot, seemed a task which my near endless 29 th Infantry force was easily going accomplish. Given Wayne s fickle dice rolling past I was quietly counting my chickens as my plan, like so many before it, was simple: all I needed to do was get off the beach and head inland whilst waiting for the Paras to back me up and sweep our side of the board clear of the Hun. When you have the ability to field every single unit in a force in such quantities that you should not really be attached to units and knowing the casualty rates on Omaha beach I was surprised by how tough it was to keep removing wave after wave of brave little men who were trying their best to breach the sea wall. Not unlike the real battle, that small distance between the water and the sea wall was a killing ground and with Wayne s dice stuck on 4, 5 or 6 there was nothing my men did not endure. Wave after wave of infantry, guns and tanks hit the beaches, unlike Phil s who clearly had the tide against him, and wave after wave would move forward to be decimated by Wayne s forces and morale boosting presence. With the Paras arrival I thought Sean and I would take the day, only to discover that Adam was only toying with us and despite getting no reserves onto the table rolled a trio of 5s right on the turn where the arrival of Barkman and the armour would hurt us most. As the battle wore on it was back and forth with casualties mounting up on both sides. At the end of the day I am sure my casualty count far exceeded that of the actual battle as I gazed at a 6'x4' table full of my dead. Although all the little men live to fight another day it was chilling to imagine just what it must have been like to be part of the D-Day landings and what bravery it took to get off the beaches. 34

16 Omaha Beach Wayne 352. Infanteriedivision My force, a Festungskompanie from 352. Infanteriedivision, had the simple role of defending the beach. In the front line I deployed my two Veteran Festungs Grenadier Platoons and a Festungs Machine-gun Platoon. Backing up the platoons on the beach was a number of bunkers. three HMGs, two in nests and one in a pill box. To keep the Sherman DD tanks burning on the beach I had an 8.8cm PaK43/41 anti-tank gun pill box. My beach front positions defended a boat ramp off the beach over the sea wall. From the boat ramp a pair of roads led inland, one up a hill towards our important Radar Station, the other led up the draw and through the village directly behind my positions. Backing up the beach defences was a heap of extra firepower deployed behind the front line defences. These platoons firing on the beaches included 15cm heavy howitzers and 15cm infantry guns as well as 8cm mortars and 7.5cm PaK40 anti-tanks guns. Most were positioned in the draw, though the mortars were up on the hill in front of the Radar Station. My plan was pretty basic. Fire on the beach and stop the Allies getting off it. I was pretty sure I d do some considerable damage to them while I waited for reserves to arrive and counter-attack. 35

17 Victor 6 th Airborne I was in command of the 6th Airborne, with my deployment zone being on the Gold beach side of the table, adjacent to the radio tower. My initial thoughts were to hold and build up reserves until I felt I could make a valiant effort to take the radar tower. Getting all the reserves to band together was tougher than I thought through all the bocage, and once Casey s Panzers started arriving, I had to focus my efforts on them. I succeeded in halting their advance, keeping the way clear for Phil to come up from the beach (once he ploughed through Mike). I did lose my second Parachute Platoon that came on to Panzer IV machine gun fire, which was a heavy blow, but once my Tetrarchs and 6 pdrs arrived, they got their revenge (although they took their sweet time!) At this point I only held one objective with my Parachute platoon. As soon as my artillery and mortars arrived and were in position to fire, I moved the two remaining Parachute platoons up the road towards the radio tower, while the artillery and mortars kept the defending troops pinned. My HMGs hunkered down and defended our objective tooth and nail, but the radar station proved to be too well defended for my troops to capture. 36

18 British Airborne landings Casey 21. Panzerdivision This D-Day game gave me the opportunity to use an army and units that I ve always wanted to play, but have never had the opportunity to build. I ve always liked playing armoured panzergrenadiers, so I thought a couple of Gepanzerte Panzergrenadier Platoons and HQ would be a great core to build the rest of the force around. With the adjustment of points in the new Earth & Steel, the half-tracks are less of a points sink than they have been in the past, so they provide more bang for the buck. Since I knew that my main opposition was going to be paratroopers I figured the more machine-guns the better. The great thing about 21. Panzer is all of the weird vehicles they can have in support, so the first options for support had to be a 7.5cm PaK40 Beute StuG platoon, 15cm Lorraine Schlepper SP Infantry Guns and some 10.5cm SP Artillery. I figured they would be fantastic for stopping Allied armour and digging out those pesky paratroopers. The next addition to the army was von Luck and some Panzer IVs as an all-purpose platoon. Von Luck proved invaluable in the game. I brought his platoon on as first reserve to gain benefit from his Better Late Than Never rule, allowing him to re-roll a Reserves die each round. As it happened, his platoon also managed to arrive beside a British Paratrooper platoon that had doubled in the open, which they managed to wipe out. The last addition to the list were some Panzerwerfer 42s. I ve always been a fan of large Soviet Katy batteries, and this was a great opportunity to use their German counterparts. With lots of enemy infantry on the table they managed to cause havoc and a lot of confusion to the Paras. Double width templates, re-rolling misses, and always counting as ranging in on the first attempt makes them one of the best artillery options for the Germans, as well as the ability to stormtrooper away from their smoke. Overall this force performed well. However British paratroopers are a tough nut to crack. I m looking forward to trying the force out again soon. 37

19 US Airborne Landings Adam 2. SS-Panzerdivision Given command of the Das Reich SS- Panzerdivision I was assigned the job of holding our rear objectives on Omaha and dealing with the American paratroopers so I could advance and relieve our troops holding the beaches. My deployment zone was situated at the back of the board with limited room for panzers to manoeuvre due to large amounts of bocage. Having two long roads to advance down I decided it would be best to use my advance forces to tie up the paratroopers and ensure I held the objectives assigned to me. In keeping with this I pushed forward with as many panzers as the reinforcement gods were kind enough to give me. Although meeting with early success against the American light reconnaissance jeeps, the bocage forced my panzers into effective kill zones for the Allied air support which continued to plague my advancing tanks for the rest of the game, effectively taking out more of my panzers and half-tracks than even the bazooka armed paratroopers could. These losses meant nothing for my troops were from the legendary Fearless Veteran Das Reich led by Oberscharführer Ernst Barkmann. We rallied and pushed forward to rescue the last of Omaha beach s artillery batteries. This allowed my troops to successfully recapture and protect the Omaha objectives from the Americans. This push unfortunately cost my armour dearly due to repeated ambushes and assaults from the Paratroopers hiding in the bocage. My Wespes arrived late in the battle and bolstered our diminished long ranged fire support as my infantry rushed forward to take up defensive positions around the objectives. The American paratroopers proved to be a much harder force to crack then I had first anticipated as they made constant assaults against my Panzer IVs. They even made a daring assault to successful knock out Barkmann s Panther. This victory for the paratroopers was short lived however as Barkmann quickly jumped into another tank to continue the advance. Ultimately the damage was done and my depleted panzers never made it to the beaches. With such limited space to take advantage of the panzers long range and manoeuvring capabilities the Americans paratroopers were able to keep me occupied in a war over Omaha s rear objectives. If given the opportunity at an open advance the steel might of the panzers would have given much more to the fight on D-Day. 38

20 Sean 82 nd Airborne Taking on the role of the American paratroopers it was my job to capture Omaha beach s inland objectives and stop the armoured SS units from reinforcing the beach. My men deployed from the side of the board near the German table edge, surrounded by bocage. My main objective was the village of Formigny near the very back of the board. If I could take this then all the German forces on the beach would receive word they had been surrounded and start each round pinned down. In order to capture this early and help the boys on the beach I knew that the first reserve I would choose to bring on would be my reconnaissance jeeps. Being my fastest platoon it would be up to them to zip down the road and take the early objective. After that it would be up to me to dig in and wait for the beach defences to fall. My main weakness in this battle was my inability to roll for reserves and I ended up fighting with a very small force. Also my initial plan of rushing towards the objective was interrupted by a platoon of Panzergrenadiers who punched a thousand holes in my jeeps with their machine-guns. It didn t help that I was deploying from within the bocage and had to spend a turn manoeuvring the jeeps through it. Thankfully my infantry platoons redeemed my force, taking out a number of Panzers and causing general disarray in the bocage with their bazookas. They even managed to destroy the SS company commander and Barkmann s Panther in particularly daring assaults. The Combat Engineers cleared out some German artillery that was firing on the beaches and in return I was lent some much needed air support which turned Panzer IVs into scrap. Although my men had a tough fight from start to finish, only receiving their anti-tank support in the last few turns, they did the job they had set out to do. The SS tanks never made it to the beaches and we captured and held two important objectives. 39

21 The Smoke Clears The players (left to right): Victor Pesch, Kyran Henry, Adam Simunovich, Sean Goodison, Katie Small, Wayne Turner, Phil Yates, John-Paul Brisigotti and Mike Haught Suggested Further Reading Our players have suggested their favourite books on the Normandy invasion to help inspire your games. Six Armies in Normandy by John Keegan (Adam) Battlezone Normandy Series by Simon Trew (Phil) Grenadiers by Kurt Meyer (Wayne) Earth & Steel by Battlefront Studio (Victor) Panzers in Normandy - Then & Now by Eric Lefèvre (Sean) Normandy to Berlin by Karen Farrington (Casey) Overlord: The D-Day Landings by Ken Ford & Steven J. Zaloga (Mike) Beyond the Beaches by Joseph Balkoski (John-Paul) 40

22 After an exhausting eight hours of play over two days, the battlefield was littered with burning wrecks and valiant survivors. Gold Beach By the end of the battle all three beach objectives were firmly in British hands with the German defences in complete disarray. Inland the British Paratroopers had managed to capture and hold one of the secondary objectives despite the appalling casualties inflicted upon them by the 21. Panzerdivision. The all-important Radar station remained firmly in German hands. Omaha Beach After suffering horrendous casualties at the hands of the 352. the weary and battered soldiers of the 29 th Infantry managed to capture the sea wall ramp and begin to head inland. The German defence had been dogged and the 352. could definitely claim Omaha as a victory for the Reich. The US paratroopers fared a little better than the troops on the beaches, capturing one of the buildings covering the inland roads and in a surprise move striking the 352. in the rear, destroying their artillery command and claiming one of the secondary beach objectives Allied Victory! Objectives Captured: 7 Objectives 5 Held: 41